CONTENTS
- I. [How Nibble Rescued the Red Cow]
- II. [Why Tommy ’Most Lost His Temper]
- III. [The Red Cow’s Secret]
- IV. [Why Louie Thomson Didn’t Enjoy His Visit]
- V. [Nibble Tells One Secret and Hears Another]
- VI. [A Game of Tag in Tommy’s Barn]
- VII. [The White Cow Begins a Story]
- VIII. [How the Man’s Wife Made the Compact with the Cows]
- IX. [How a Bunny Undertook to Hunt a Fox]
- X. [The Wicked Plot of the Bad Little Owls]
- XI. [Why the Little Owls’ Plans Went Wrong]
- XII. [How Long Ears Heard Bad News]
- XIII. [How the Great Hunt Ended]
ILLUSTRATIONS
- [Silvertip wades across the pond]
- [Tommy finds a trap]
- [Nibble and Muskrat visit the Red Cow]
- [The Red Cow walked around and around]
- [Silvertip trotted past with the poor chicken]
- [There was Nibble, perched on top of the partition]
- [Nibble visits the chicken coop]
- [Silvertip hid under the culvert]
THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX
CHAPTER I
HOW NIBBLE RESCUED THE RED COW
Never before, in the early, early spring, had there been so much excitement down at Doctor Muskrat’s Pond. Of course, spring’s the season for visitors. They were always on the lookout for old friends winging up from the south. The Beautiful Duck and his mate, who’d warned Nibble Rabbit about the Terrible Storm, stopped in to wish everyone a happy summer. Then they laughingly beaked their way northward through a flurry of late snow. Bad weather couldn’t scare them now.
They kept a lookout for old enemies, too, as wise Woodsfolk always must. But there was one visitor who puzzled them. Was he an enemy, or was he a friend? Doctor Muskrat himself couldn’t say. Or rather, he wouldn’t. But that wasn’t what started all the discussion.
The visitor was Tommy Peele. And his old dog Watch said he owned the Woods and Fields. Now did that mean he owned the Woodsfolk who lived in them? That’s what everyone wanted to know. For the Woodsfolk were wild. Could a wild beast ever belong to any one? Doctor Muskrat had never heard of such a thing.
“I certainly wouldn’t mind,” chirped Chewee the Chickadee. “I get a full crop ’most every time I see him.”